Friday, April 21, 2017

Why did the White House admit that Trump congratulated Erdogan on his referendum win?

I can understand why Trump might choose to congratulate him privately, as repulsive as it is to think of the president back-slapping a foreign leader on assuming dictatorial power. Foreign policy is a game of hardball and Turkey’s cooperation is useful to the United States in various ways. If preserving that cooperation requires making nice with the new caliph, that’s a tough but defensible calculation.

I can’t understand admitting publicly that you’ve congratulated him, though, especially when credible accusations of cheating by Erdogan’s allies are swirling. From the White House readout:

President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to congratulate him on his recent referendum victory and to discuss the United States’ action in response to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons on April 4th. President Trump thanked President Erdogan for supporting this action by the United States, and the leaders agreed on the importance of holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable. President Trump and President Erdogan also discussed the counter-ISIS campaign and the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends.
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